Last week Rhea Chakraborty released a tearful video in which she said "truth will prevail"
The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday actor Rhea Chakraborty's plea seeking the transfer of an FIR - from Patna to Mumbai - accusing her of abetting in fellow actor Sushant Singh Rajput's alleged suicide in June.
The FIR, filed by Bihar police on a complaint by Mr Rajput's father, alleges that Ms Chakraborty illegally transferred Rs 15 crore from Mr Rajput's Mumbai bank account and mentally harassed him.
Ms Chakraborty, who was reportedly Mr Rajput's girlfriend at the time of his death, has challenged Bihar police's jurisdiction in the matter, given that the alleged crime took place in Maharashtra.
In her plea Ms Chakraborty said that it was becoming "increasingly evident that the FIR was successfully filed in Patna only due to intervention of the Chief Minister of Bihar and other local politicians".
The plea also said the actress has a "strong prima facie case in her favour as it is submitted the cause of action has not even remotely occurred within Patna".
The governments of both Bihar and Maharashtra have been made parties in the plea, as has Mr Rajput's father, Krishna Kishore Singh. The state governments have already filed a caveat seeking to be heard by the top court before any order is passed.
The hearing, before a bench led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy, will be keenly followed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who, this morning, recommended that the CBI take over the case.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had both earlier ruled out a CBI investigation.
Sushant Singh Rajput's father, Krishna Kishore Singh, has accused Rhea Chakraborty (File)
Legal experts have pointed out that even with the Bihar Chief Minister's recommendation, the central agency has no jurisdiction unless it is invited either by the state in which the alleged crime happened (Maharashtra) or is assigned the case by the High Court or Supreme Court.
Mr Kumar made the recommendation at the request of Mr Rajput's father, who claimed on Monday that he had warned Mumbai police of a threat to his son but saw no action taken, and was therefore forced to file the complaint with police in Bihar instead.
The Mumbai cops hit back shortly after, saying that no formal, written complaint had been filed and that the family did not mention their suspicions to them in the days immediately following Mr Rajput's death.
A Bihar police team has been camped in Mumbai since Wednesday last week.
Their presence has sparked a turf war with Mumbai police, who say there is no evidence, as yet, of any financial irregularities on Ms Chakraborty's part. Mumbai police, which has said it will investigate all avenues, has also said that Mr Rajput suffered from bipolar disorder.
Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14 (File)
Bihar Police, for their part, are insistent that they will continue to investigate and follow the money trail, as well as the alleged suicide of the actor's former manager, Disha Salian, who died six days before him.
Meanwhile, last week the Enforcement Directorate waded into the mix and registered a money laundering case over the FIR filed by Bihar police. Sources in the agency told NDTV it would "look into the allegation of suspicious transactions (and) suspected persons will be issued summons early next week".
Ms Chakraborty, who has been largely silent on this matter, broke that silence on Friday in a tearful video released by her lawyers. "The truth shall prevail," she said in the video.
With input from PTI